The 2016 Harvest Soup Contest in Whistler made Canadian Thanksgiving a culinary adventure. My Vancouver Cohousing neighbour Marijean and I stopped in at the event after the weekend at Tyrol Lodge with several households from our community.
A fundraiser for the Whistler Waldorf School, the event enlisted eight restaurants and hotels in a contest to see who made the favourite soup of the hundreds who attended. We all paid $6 to to sample five of the soups and enjoy a full bowl of the one we voted for.
The ones I sampled were all good: Hot & Sour Soup, Chilliwack Summer Corn & 5 Spiced Duck with Saffron, Tapley’s Turkey Pot Pie, Pollo Borracho Tortilla Soup and Roast B.C. Squash with Braised Short Ribs and Crispy Onions.
That last soup, from the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, was the favourite of both of us – so richly flavourful from the first spoonful. And I learned today that it won this year’s Golden Ladle Award.
Marijean is gluten intolerant and carefully asked about the content of each soup. I avoided the ingredients that don’t jibe with my Eco Kosher Lite dietary practice – so none of the Alaskan King Crab & Butternut Squash Bisque and, because I’d already had the short ribs, I didn’t try the Truffled Chanterelle Bisque with Parmesan and Chives because of the dairy content. Not having meat and dairy in the same meal is part of my practice.
But I didn’t ask carefully about ingredients not mentioned in the name of the soup. I later saw the application form for the winning soup and saw the ingredients included cream. An oops, but not a huge deal. The “Lite” part of my practice is about not being crazy-making.
Gorgeous fall colour at Whistler.